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一事无成 (yī shì wú chéng) — to have achieved nothing; to be a total failure; to get nowhere

Definition

Literally 'not a single thing accomplished' — emphasizes a personal sense of failure after effort. 无所作为 is more about lacking drive from the start; 无所事事 is simply being idle.

phrase
to have achieved nothingto be a total failureto get nowhere

Examples

  • ，一事无成。
    Tā nián qīng shí huāng fèi guāng yīn, rú jīn yī rán yī shì wú chéng.
    He wasted his time when young and still hasn't accomplished anything.
  • 一事无成，。
    Wǒ bù xiǎng yí bèi zi yī shì wú chéng, suǒ yǐ kāi shǐ nǔ lì chuàng yè.
    I don't want to achieve nothing in my whole life, so I started striving to build my own business.
  • ，一事无成。
    Jīng lì duō cì shī bài hòu, tā jué de zì jǐ yī shì wú chéng.
    After many failures, he felt he had accomplished nothing.

Origin

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

In 事, 又 is a hand and 中 is a flagpole with a drum; holding a flag in hand depicts performing a job.

Open 事 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
戊戊wù
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng成chéng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

成 puts 戊, a weapon, beside 丁, which gives the sound. The weapon part relates to protection, as in the old sense of city walls.

Open 成 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Idioms & Set PhrasesSuccess & Failure

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